Category: Ride for Tim

Not long after setting off we pass a NC500 sign for John o’ Groats – the first time we’ve seen our ultimate destination on a road sign. It feels wild that we’re within touching distance of our goal. It’s a strange psychology, doing a ride that is so focussed on one place: throughout our journey,…

The midges are out. I can see them through the mesh in my inner tent, crawling over the fabric, waiting for their breakfast. The outer tent is thick with little black bodies, similarly waiting. I know I need to be smart – as soon as I open the zip, that’s it. I pack up everything…

There are a few options for routes from here when you’re riding a LEJOG: one is up the coastal A9 through Dornoch, Golspie, Helmsdale and Wick; another is straight up the middle, via the Crask Inn, aka the wilderness route. We’re taking the ‘straight-up-the-middle’ route. We stock up in the supermarket in anticipation – we won’t…

I’m in the bike shop in Inverness at 9am. I can already tell they don’t want to help me, judging by the look on this staff-member’s face: one of tiredness and dread. The look says, we already have a stack of bikes and only one mechanic. We don’t need any bother today. He says he…

Today is all about Tim. This is the stretch that we cycled together back in 2020, in that strange ‘eat out to help out’ summer, when he booked a Caledonian Sleeper to get some much-needed cycling therapy in Scotland and asked if I’d like to go with him. We’d never ridden together before, both of…

We must be strong now, or perhaps we’re just used to it, but we barely register the hills today. We’re on another route that paces a motorway, but this time it’s on a road that climbs into the hills then plunges back to the valley, to cross and climb the other side. Each rise and…

It’s another big bridge day, and this time there’s not one but three. Today we will cross the Firth of Forth at Queensferry, just outside Edinburgh.  It was the 1880s when a bridge was first built over the Forth (the rail bridge, known today simply as the Forth Bridge), to carry the growing rail network.…

Ivan has travelled a long way (from London) to ride what is arguably the least inspiring stretch of the whole ride. We’re also joined by Sally, who’s travelled here from Dumfries and will return home after Moffat. This is the part of the cycle network that cyclists bemoan the most: for more than 50 miles…

Ullswater looks magical in the morning haze. We start early, before the mist entirely lifts, but soon the sun burns through to bring another scorching day. Before we started the ride, someone asked what weather I would prefer: relentless sunshine or relentless rain. The answer has to be relentless sunshine, but only just. Spending all…

Today is the big one: we will be crossing the Kirkstone pass. The Lake District hills are clearly visible across Morecambe bay where we start the day, and they look dauntingly big. I’ve cycled over the Kirkstone pass three times, a couple of times with luggage, but never with a load this heavy. The others…